It’s Robinson

The contract of OF Derrick Robinson was purchased from Triple-A Louisville to replace Ludwick on the roster.

Robinson batted .300 in 22 spring games after being signed in the off-season as a Minor League free agent. He batted .258 in 116 games last season for the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate in Omaha. A switch hitter, he has never played in the big leagues.

@preach: Little hard to be down on a guy for being a “career minor leaguer” when he’s only 25-years-old. Todd Frazier is in his second full season at the age of 27. Same with Zack Cozart (though admittedly it should probably be his third if not for that injury).

He is still young in baseball terms, and still has years left before he reaches the “he is who he is” phase of his career. Can still improve, and looked pretty decent in spring training. He’s also apparently really damn fast, he’s stolen 50 or more bases 4 times in his minor league career. Certainly could be a worse addition than Robinson.

Robinson is a low-risk, high reward guy. I thought he was a smart signing and I’m glad they chose to promote him – I’m glad they promoted a new guy rather than a washed up veteran (Emmanuel Burriss, for example). I think he deserves it and it’s a good story.

That’s not to say that I think he’ll be a star player or anything, I think he’ll do a decent job as a 5th outfielder, defensive replacement, pinch hitter, and pinch runner. He seems like a real threat to challenge Chris Heisey for playing time.

I’ll be pretty surprised if Robinson actually challenges Heisey for time, but I won’t be surprised to see him get an occasional start. The Reds needed a fifth outfielder so this move makes sense rather than adding an infielder and moving Frazier to left. I’m glad it’s not Burriss too, but I’m even more glad it’s not Hamilton. He needs a year in CF in AAA, but next year he will either be a) starting CF with Choo moved to left (please?) b) starting CF with Choo gone somewhere else (no thanks) or c) traded somewhere else with hopefully a big return (I think this is unlikely – his upside is too high and the fans have been waiting for him Homer Bailey style). I can live with Robinson but I’ll sleep better knowing that Walt Jocketty is on the phone talking to AL teams about right handed corner outfielders with power.

In the meantime I’m holding my breath to see Dusty Baker’s starting lineup for tonight…